Lakota
AID
Registered
Charity
No: 1097444
October 2005
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Promotion of Draft Declaration of Equal Rights for Indigenous People A meeting was held on oct 8th 2005 in Rapid City South Dakota to promote the draft declaration of equal indignity rights of Indigenous people, represented by Charmaine White Face. Charmaine White Face was chosen by the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council, and the late Tony Black Feather in 1994 as a representative to the United Nations. Charmaine White Face opened her presentation on the United Nations to the Oceti Sakowin with an emotional and eye-opening statement :- “POW (prisoner of war), Camp344!” created by an Executive Order (for which I have the documentation), is now known as the Pine Ridge Reservation”. “I am concerned,” said White Face. “We need to decolonise and be who we are!” White Face has been working on the Draft Declaration on the rights of Indigenous People. She stated that “In the United Nations each country has one vote. All the countries have agreed to pass this declaration with the exception of the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Australia. Sometimes China and Russia may disagree on an issue or so, but it is mainly the four English speaking countries.” “I know where I come from,” said White Face, “ I am Oglala, Tetuwan, Oceti Sakowin, and our people have been through the boarding schools and forced colonisation and my parents have been through forced assimilation. We have to think ahead seven generations.” said White Face. She went on to say, “Our people have been here for 1300 years. We have been self-governing, we know what worked. Sometimes it is hard for me to accept that a country that has only been in existence for 200 years can know what is best for us! We had no need for jails, orphanages or social programs. In our way, when one ate everyone ate!” “The chronology of division of us as a Nation is a story of how we fought each other. Now we need a healing of our nation, a reunion of all our people, a chance to reunite in a place that was the center of our nation,” “The Black Hills.” You may contact Charmaine White Face by e-mail at bhdefenders@aol.com
sent in by Brenda Aplin-26th Oct 2005. www.lakota-aid.co.uk |
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